Sister, Dear
by The Grimreaper PT
Summary: Before Inception, Eames hadn't taken a job in eight years because he couldn't face it without his twin sister Abby(Blonde, Talulah Riley) there with him. Then Cobb turns up in Mombasa asking for his help forcing him to face her death and his inability to avenge her. Originally no pairings but somehow a little Eames/Arthur snuck in. Angst and Revenge. Ongoing.
1. Introduction

Sister, dear.

Note: I don't know where this came from. I just had this idea at about 11o'clock at night that Eames had a sister, and that she was his motivation during Inception. This will be multichapter as somehow I can't write oneshots.

Introduction

Eames swirled the liquid in his glass as he stared unseeing out of the window. They had done it, they had actually done it. They had completed an Inception. It had been touch and go for a while there, but somehow they had pulled it off. Sipping the scotch he glanced at the empty chair across from where he sat in his hotel room and he sighed. It was a sound full of misery and grief.

"I couldn't have done it without you, sister dear."

For him this was the hardest part, going through his after job ritual without her. The last time he hadn't had to do this, last time he had been running for his life. The last time he had failed and he hadn't taken a job since.

"I wish you could have seen it Abby. I wish you could have been there with me."

Finishing his drink Eames put the glass down and leant towards his sister's vacant seat.

"Let me tell you about it..."


	2. Contact

I was in Mombasa minding my own business when Dominic Cobb found me. I wasn't surprised that he knew where I was. Arthur knew when I left the U.S because I had told him where I was going. And even though I hadn't moved on in eight years he had kept track of where I was. Everytime I moved to another apartment he would let me know somehow that he knew where I was. That's just the way he is Abby dear, you know that as well as I do. Poor sweet Arthur always looking out for his friends. After all these years he still thinks it's his job to look after his team, even though there aren't many of us left now.

* * *

The warehouse was small, and they had to work around each other but nobody minded. Arthur had his desk under the window with his back to it, scrolling through the information he had on his laptop while writing furiously in his note book. And still somehow he could follow the conversations going on around him, laughing and joking with the rest.

Dom and Mal had their desks pushed together by the far wall so that they could go over the model they had built together, checking everything twice. In the middle of the room between Arthur and the soon to be married couple was the space they used for dreaming.

Four lawn chairs and a low table sat unused for the moment as they all worked. Then there were the Eames twins, Tom and Abigale. They didn't have desks. Directly opposite Arthur's desk sat Tom's dressing table, with a mess of papers and photographs stuck all around the mirror. There he sat making notes, comparing his own appearance to that of his intended forge, and firing questions at the rest of the team so that he could get the look right when he tried it later in the dream.

Between her brother and the future Mr and Mrs Cobb sat Abigale's work space. It was a high counter covered in distillation equipment, notebooks and a luke warm cup of tea. Sitting on her stool was a pristine white lab coat, but she wasn't there. Instead she stood behind her brother's chair laughing happily.

"Don't be silly Tommy, it won't be that bad. I'm sure you'll make a fantastic woman once you get the hang of it. Don't you think so Arthur, darling? Can't you imagine Tommy as a woman?"

Arthur laughed from across the room, stopping what he was doing to look over at the twins.

"I can indeed Abby dear. But only because I see it every day. I swear sometimes that the two of you are the same person."

Abigale snorted at that turning to her best friend to get her opinion on the matter.

"I'm afraid I agree with him my friend. We should just call you both Eames and be done with it."

Mal suggested walking over to put a hand on the chemist's shoulder, her partner joining her to peer at the pictures of the intended forge. He smiled brightly as he looked at them alongside the detailed notes.

"I'm sure you'll be fine Tommy. You're the best forger there is."

* * *

So, no dear sister. I wasn't surprised that Cobb knew where to find me, or that Arthur had told him where to look. What surprised me was that he had wanted to find me in the first place. We haven't been on the best of terms since I left, since we left I mean. Since you left me and I left them. Maybe he thinks that I could have stopped Mal, or that if we had still been a team we could have helped her back to reality. Or maybe it's all on me.

Anyway whatever the reason may be, we haven't exactly spoken much over the years. So it came as quite a shock to hear his voice while I sat with my last two chips on 13.

"Rub them together all you want, they're not going to breed."

His voice grated on me as soon as he spoke. It didn't use to be like that, we used to be such good friends, we all did. But so much has happened since then, so much has been lost. Maybe too much.

"You never know."

But no matter how much he grated on my nerves I knew I would have to hear him out. Whatever it was that he wanted, I knew that it had to be important for him to come and find me. There had been a few job offers since I quit the business, but they were always done over the phone via Arthur of course and I had always said no. Eventually they stopped calling, respecting my need to stay out of the very thing that had taken you from me. But here he was after all this time. I just hoped that my patience would hold.

"I'm gonna get you a drink."

As the last of my genuine chips went the way of the rest I stood up quickly.

"You're buying."

I said walking away. I knew that he would follow me over to the cashier, but that didn't bother me. He wouldn't rat me out for cashing forged chips if he wanted my help.

"Your spelling hasn't improved."

He commented looking at the stack of chips as I took them out of my pocket. That didn't help my patience any.

"Piss off."

I didn't need his criticism, besides there was nothing wrong with my forgeries in reality or in dreams. I may not have been working these last eight years, but that didn't mean that I hadn't been under at all. That was part of the reason I was in Mombasa at all, so that I could get the chemicals I needed without any awkward questions.

"How's your handwriting?"

That was more like it. Talking business I could just about cope with, even if I would ultimately end up saying no.

"It's versatile. "

I was the best and he knew it.

"Good. I've got a job Tommy. It's a big one and I need your help."

I closed my eyes for a second trying to keep my composure, but then the cashier was handing me the money and I needed to come back to the room.

"Thank you very much."

I mumbled to the cashier before turning to face the man who had once been one of my closest friends.

"It's Eames now. You know that. And I don't take jobs anymore. You know that too."

That was when I saw it for the first time. Dominic Cobb was barely holding on to his sanity. I had known of course, Arthur had told me everything that I had missed as he tried to make me care about something other than my own grief. But I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

"Please Tom, just hear me out. One drink, that's all I ask. And if you still say no I'll never bother you again."

Eventually I agreed and led him through to the bar.


	3. Anything is possible

I sat down as far away from the bar as I could while keeping it in my line of sight. I knew that Cobb hadn't noticed, but I had seen the tail enter as we were served. It surprised me a little that Dominic was being so unobservant. It was one of the things that had made him such an accomplished extractor. But I could also see the stress that he carried at all times. It would have broken your heart Abby dear to see him like that. But luckily I didn't have a heart to break.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

I asked, curious to learn what it was that had him so desperate for my help.

"Inception. I need your help with an Inception."

I laughed at him then I'm afraid. I couldn't help it, after how horribly it had gone when we tried it on Daniels. How I had failed so utterly to avenge your death. But he thought I was laughing at his suggestion, as if I found it amusing somehow.

"I'm serious Tommy. So is the client, very serious. And don't tell me it's impossible."

I took a gulp of my beer then as I tried to calm my mind. It was possible. Of course it was possible. But we hadn't managed it when it counted. When it really mattered.

"Of course it's possible. It's just bloody difficult."

So difficult that Arthur and I hadn't been able to pull it off. So difficult that our vengeance, your vengeance hadn't been satisfied.

"Interesting. Because Arthur keeps telling me that it can't be done."

So that was how he justified it to himself. That was how he was able to sleep at night knowing that Daniels was still out there. Still out there living his life while you couldn't. Arthur believed that we had failed because Inception was impossible. We couldn't do it because it couldn't be done.

"Arthur. You're still working with that stick in the mud."

I know that I probably put more venom behind his name than I intended. I wasn't angry at him, how could I be. But I was Angry. Angry that he had convinced himself that there was nothing else that we could do to avenge you. Angry that he had given up. And Angry that he apparently hadn't warned me that Dominic was on his way and why.

"He's good at what he does, right."

That was all he said in Arthur's defence. But I guess he was downplaying his reliance on darling Arthur for my sake. Not that it would make a difference to whether or not I would take the job. I was hooked on the idea and he knew it.

"Oh he's the best. But he has no imagination."

That was a little harsh, I admit that. But Arthur was too logical, the complete opposite of me.

"Not like you."

Maybe that was why I missed him so much. Why I missed the way things had been when the five of us had been a team.

"If you are going to perform an Inception you need imagination."

I knew that I had to take this job. If I was ever going to avenge your death I needed to take this job. If we could pull it off, even better if Arthur could see us pull it off together then there would be nothing to stop us trying again with Daniels. I could almost see it all in my head, how I would track him down again, how I would put him under. How I would make him pay. But then Cobb interrupted my thoughts.

"Let me ask you something. Have you done it before?"

That was it a simple question, so few words and it was like I was right back in that room.

 _Eames opened his eyes with a start and sat bolt upright. He had to move, he had to move now! Turning his head sharply to the left he saw Arthur pulling the needle out of his arm._

 _"We need to go Tommy, before he wakes up."_

 _It had all been going so well, they had managed to get through all of his defences, they had planted the seed. But somehow the Bastard had figured out what they were doing. He had rejected it and now they had to run. Because there was no way they could avenge her if they were dead._

Of course I forced the panic down again. Forced my self out of that memory long enough to answer him. Because Dominic had no idea what he was making me to remember.

"We tried it once, got the idea in place but it didn't take."

I tried to smile at Cobb, but even I'm not that good an actor.

"You didn't plant it deep enough?"

It was obvious then that they would need me to pull this off. Mal and I had always been the creative ones. Although Dominic could improvise and think on his feet, he needed to be flexible to do his job, but he wasn't on my level. And Arthur had a mind of facts and figures. Inception was about the feel of an idea, the flow of it, not the facts.

"It's not just about depth. You need the simplest version of the idea. It needs to grow naturally in the subjects mind. It's a very subtle art."

It was like a stabbing pain in my chest thinking about how close we had come, Arthur and I all those years ago. And here was Cobb of all people asking me to try it again on someone else.

"So what is this idea that you need to plant?"

I had to ask the question. I had tried to keep myself away, but this job could be just what I needed to get closer. The step that we needed so that I could finally make him pay for what he did to you, for taking you way from me.

"We need the heir of a major corporation to dissolve his father's empire."

It was about money. Of course it was. It usually was in our line of work. But nothing was ever that simple once you were inside someone else's mind.

"You see, right there you have various political motivations and anti-monopolistic sentiments and so forth. But all of that stuff, it's, um. It's really all at the mercy of your subjects prejudice, you see."

You see that was what had just occurred to me, because that was what we had done wrong. We had expected too much from that monster, expected too much of his conscience. Next time we would have to simplify things.

"What you have to do is to start at the absolute basic."

Cobb was looking at me carefully over the top of his beer, taking a sip before speaking again.

"And what is that?"

I actually had to remind myself that we were talking about Dom's job, and not about Daniels. Fortunately unlike our little problem this Inception actually had an obvious answer.

"The relationship with the father."

Sitting back in my chair so that I could continue to keep an eye on the man at the bar I took a chance. Dom may have known that I was here in Mombasa, but he didn't know why. He had no idea that I was there so that I could stay close to your old friend Yusuf.

"Do you have a chemist?"

I knew that it was risky, that if Dom didn't make the connection then maybe Arthur would. But I owed Yusuf that much. He could really do with the money, and although Cobb hadn't told me what the fee was it had to be a lot if we were going to attempt something like this.

"No, not yet."

I nodded, sure that Dominic Cobb was far to worried about his own problems to connect the dots, or even to worry about why I would keep in touch with a chemist when I was supposed to be out of the game.

"Right, okay, well there's a man here, Yusuf. He, uh, formulates his own versions of the compounds."

And he was bloody good at it. Still is. I don't know how I would have coped without him all these years Abby, dear. I really don't.

"Why don't you take me there?"

Somehow he still hadn't noticed his shadow, so I had to point it out for him.

"Once you've lost your tail. The man at the bar."

He didn't seem surprised at all confirming my suspicions that he and Arthur had gotten themselves into a lot of trouble. Why else would Arthur have agreed to a job like this.

"Cobol Engineering. That price on my head was that dead or alive."

And a whole lot of trouble considering how dominant Cobol were in Mombasa.

"Don't remember. Let's see if he starts shooting."

I will admit that there was still some bitterness between us and in that moment I wasn't sure whether I would put any effort into helping him if things went wrong.

"Run interference. I'll meet you back here in half an hour?"

I was still undecided. After all this was the man who had run off to experiment on dream layers with his wife while Arthur and I put you in the ground.

"Back here?"

But he was also offering me the opportunity to complete an Inception, to bring me one step closer to destroying the man who had taken you away.

"It's the last thing that they will expect."

My decision was made. After all Arthur would never forgive me for letting Cobb get hurt.

"All right."


End file.
